Right Of Possession Read Free Page A

all right." She grabbed her gold evening bag and the shawl which matched her long silk sheath.
    "Very well, but I don't care for your attitude one bit, Corbett!" Bruce informed the other man disdainfully.
    "I wasn't overly pleased to find you out with Reva, either." Josh smiled with a very feral expression. "But we must be gentlemen about this, mustn't we?" he added sardonically, starting down the row of interested diners seated nearby.
    With a last, reassuring glance at Bruce, Reva stopped trying to resist the chain on her wrist and allowed herself to be led past the astonished maitre d' and out into the chill night air of the late Oregon fall. It took all her willpower to keep from screaming at her captor. Only the years of practice in dealing with the various temperaments of corporate management enabled Reva to maintain some outward appearance of cool hauteur. She might owe this man her life, but she would never forgive him for coming back into it.
    "All right, Josh," she stated evenly as the door to the restaurant swung shut behind them. "You've had your big scene. There's no need to continue dragging me along like this. I've agreed to come peacefully."
    But he wasn't listening to her. Instead, he'd halted beside a long black car parked illegally at the curb and was fishing out a set of keys. With an economy of movement that brought back memories to Reva, he handed her into the front seat, slammed the door, and went rapidly around to the driver's side.
    An instant later he was sliding in beside her, reaching for her with his large competent hands, his face drawn and intent. Instinctively Reva tried to edge away. In the confines of the car he seemed large and overpowering. But he appeared unaware of her attempt at retreat, clamping his fingers around her shoulders and holding her still in front of him as he sat twisted in the driver's seat. The lion eyes raked her as if, in the relative privacy of the car, they could finally drink their fill.
    "Reva, Reva, honey," he growled in a husky whisper. "It's been four long months. God! How I've ached for you, woman! Do you know that?" He shook his dark head in rueful relief and the fingers on her shoulders clenched and unclenched with a strange urgency.
    In the dim light of the street lamps Reva noticed the small things she hadn't had time to become aware of in the restaurant. He was just as hard and lean as she had remembered but the silver at his temples lent a surprisingly distinguished look which hadn't been so noticeable four months ago when his hair had been longer and he'd had a couple days' growth of rough beard. The expensive material of his dark suit and crisp white shirt was a definite improvement over the khaki slacks and shirt she'd last seen him wearing, Reva decided. He looked, in fact, quite presentable if one ignored the crimson slash of his tie, she told herself wryly. But he didn't fool her for a moment.
    "I'm glad you're out of that mess safe and sound," Reva said politely, her body stiff and resisting in his grasp. The shawl she'd wrapped around the shoulders of the long-sleeved, iridescent silk dress provided some protection from the strength of his fingers, but not much. She could feel them biting gently into her flesh.
    "Were you worried about me?" he asked softly, and she had the impression he would have been pleased with her concern. He released her shoulders abruptly to cup her face between roughly gentle hands.
    "Frankly, no." Reva shrugged with deliberate callousness. Never would she let him know how many nights she'd awakened from the nightmares and stared at the ceiling, wondering what had become of him. She rarely had those dreams anymore. It had been only during that first month that she'd dreaded going to sleep. "You seemed to know what you were doing." Josh Corbett didn't need anyone to worry about him!
    "I'll assume that's some kind of compliment," he said flatly,' watching her cool eyes with a kind of hunger. "Although I wondered at first if